phoenix life help

Andy1966_2

I bought an endowment through the Brittannia Building society with Brittania life in 1991 this was then sold to Alba life in 1999 and then again to Phoenix no bonuses have been paid since 1998. "trading conditions too tough". I have asked for cash-in values every year and every year I would end up out of pocket to the tune of £4000 + from what I have invested.
Anybody got any useful ideas on this one that might not leave me out of pocket and end this nightmare. This policy in its various incarnations has been running for 16.5 years, the only saving grace is I no longer have a mortgage as I have resorted to renting.
Help !!

EdInvestor

Post some info about it

Guaranteed sum assured
Declared bonuses
Surrender value
Monthly premium
Maturity date
Maturity forecasts

heather8

We too have one of these. If you look at your certificate you will see what the bonus earned to date is. It's in the final colume.

For example ours has been showing 16000 for years. It has 2 years to run.

I put in a claim for mis-selling and they paid out 6000, but were offering 16000 if I cashed to plolicy in. I chose to keep the policy going and I will get the 16000 in 2 years time. Our premium is 37.00 a month, so it was better to do that than cash it in. I used this for the life insurance on part of our new loan.

EdInvestor

If you want an opinion on what to do with your endowment, start a new one of your own.Click on the "Post New" button at the top of the forum thread index page.

Andy1966_2

Thanks, new to this computer lark so please be patient.
the info requested is:-premium £42.22 per month, sum assured £10934, bonuses £2985, maturity 09/2016, 3%growth £16000 4% £17000 and 5% £18000 cash in value £6916

davep

Hi Andy,

Asuming your endowment term is 25 years you will pay in £12666 over the entire period but it is already worth £13919 at maturity, sum assured and bonus to date are guaranteed and cannot be taken away. At Maturity there is usually a terminal bonus, this can vary greatly and no endowment companies can tell you what it will be unfortunately but it can be as much as all your bonus earned at maturity.
We are in a similar situation with an old endowment from a previous mortgage and we have taken the decision that as long as we can afford the monthly payments we are going to keep it going.
Endowments have had a tough time over the last 10 years mainly becuase the stock markets have been relatively stable, its during the periods of instability when the big money can be made buying in the troughs and selling on the peaks, asuming your investment company are not numpties
So you never know what might happen in the next 8~9 years maybe endowments will become a popular investment vehicle again

EdInvestor

Andy1966 wrote: »

Thanks, new to this computer lark so please be patient.
the info requested is:-premium £42.22 per month, sum assured £10934, bonuses £2985, maturity 09/2016, 3%growth £16000 4% £17000 and 5% £18000 cash in value £6916

Hi Andy

The guaranteed value of this endowment is 13,919 and you will get this as long as you just keep paying in until maturity.

If you cashed in the policy and put it in a cash ISA/high interest account achieving a net 5% return after tax over the years, you would get 15,160.But interest rates are now on a downward trend.

There's not much in it, to be honest. Given the free life assurance included in the policy , I'd be inclined to keep it. .